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Chapter 10: Superconductivity

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Chapter 10: Superconductivity Chapter 10: Superconductivity References: 1. C. Kittel ; Introduction to solid state physics 2. M. Tinkham: Introduction to superconductivity 3. Paul Hansma, Tunneling Spectroscopy Table of Contents (1) (2) (3) Experimental Survey of Superconductivity Phenomenon WHAT IS A SUPERCONDUCTOR? 1. Zero resistance 2. Complete expulsion of magnetic flux MH7699A.18 SUPERCONDUCTIVITY Type of material What happens in a wire? Result Conductor Collisions cause dissipation (heat) Electrons flow easily (like water through a garden hose) No current flow Insulator at all Electrons are tightly bound no flow (like a hose plugged with cement) Superconductor No collisions No dissipation Electrons bind into pairs and No heat cannot collide No resistance (a frictionless hose) HOW SMALL IS THE RESISTANCE? Copper Cylinder 1) Induce current 2) Current decays in about 1/1000 second Superconducting Cylinder 1) Induce current 2) Current does not decay (less than 0.1% in a year) so, resistance is smaller than copper 1000 years by ──────────── 1/1000 second i.e., at least 1 trillion times! Why Superconductivity is so fascinating ? Fundamental SC mechanism Novel collective phenomenon at low temp Applications Bulk: - Persistent current, power storage - Magnetic levitation - High field magnet, MRI Electronics: - SQUID magnetometer - Josephson junction electronics POSSIBLE IMPACT OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY ● Energy - Superconductivity generators & motors - Power transmission & distribution - Energy storage systems - Magnets for fusion power - Magnets for magneto-hydrodynamic power ● Transportation - Magnets for levitated trains - Electro-magnetic powered ships - Magnets for automobiles ● Health care - Magnetic resonance imaging MH7699A.11 Low-Tc Superconductivity Mechanism Electron phonon coupling k -k PROGRESS IN SUPERCONDUCTIVITY 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 Liquid N2 60 Transition temperature (K) Transition Maximum superconducting 40 20 4.2K 23K 1911 1973 0 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 Year A legacy of Superconductivity Ted H. Geballe A legacy of Superconductivity Bob Hammond PROGRESS IN SUPERCONDUCTIVITY 200 203K 180 160 155K 140 120 120K 100 90K 80 Liquid N2 60 Transition temperature (K) Transition Maximum superconducting 40 40K 23K 20 4.2K 1973 1911 0 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 Year The results are the work of Mikhail Eremets, Alexander Drozdov and their colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany last year. They find that when they subject samples of hydrogen sulfide to extremely high pressures — around 1.5 million atmospheres (150 gigapascals) — and cool them below 203 K, the samples display the classic hallmarks of superconductivity: zero electrical resistance and a phenomenon known as the Meissner effect. Other hydrogen compounds may be good candidates for high- temperature superconductivity too. For instance, compounds that pair hydrogen with platinum, potassium, selenium or tellurium, instead of sulfur. Zhang in Dallas and Yugui Yao of the Beijing Institute of Technology in China predict that substituting 7.5% of the sulfur atoms in hydrogen sulfide with phosphorus and upping the pressure to 2.5 million atmospheres (250 GPa) could raise the superconducting transition temperature all the way to 280 K6, above water's freezing point. Experimental Electrical Resistivity of Metals The electrical resistivity of most metals is dominated at room temperature (300K) by collisions of the conduction electrons with lattice phonons and at liquid helium temperature (4K) by collisions with impurity atoms and mechanical imperfections in the lattice (Fig. 11). Lattice phonons To a good approximation the rates are 1 1 1 Imperfections often independent. = + (46) And can be summed together τ τL τi , where τL and τi are the collision times for scattering by phonons and by imperfections, respectively. The net resistivity is given by r = rL + ri , Since r ~ 1/ t (47) Often rL is independent of the number of defects when their concentration is small, and often ri is independent of temperature. This empirical observation expresses Matthiessen’s Rule. Potassium metal K 200 R/R At T > 2 r T 10 Different ri (0) but the same rL resistance, Figure 12 Resistance of potassium below 20 K, as measured on two specimens by D. MacDonald and K. Mendelssohn. The Relative different intercepts at 0 K are attributed to different concentrations of impurities and static imperfections in the two specimens. Temperature, K. The temperature-dependent part of the electrical resistivity is proportional to the rate at which an electron collides with thermal phonons. One simple limit is at temperatures over the Debye temperature θ; here the phonon concentration is proportional to the temperature T, so that r T for T > θ. Nph T , hence r 1/t Nph T The electrical resistivity of many metals and alloys drops suddenly to zero when the specimen is cooled to a sufficiently low temperature, often a tempera- ture in the liquid helium range. This phenomenon, called superconductivity, was observed first by Kamerlingh Onnes in Leiden in 1911, three years after he first liquified helium. First SC found in Hg by 1911 ! R (ohm) Figure 1 Resistance in ohms of a specimen of Mercury versus absolute temperature. The plot by Kamerlingh Onnes Marked the discovery of superconductivity. Decay of persistent current from 1 year up to 105 year Temp (K) Meissner Effect It is an experimental fact that a bulk superconductor in a weak magnetic field will act as a perfect diamagnet, with zero magnetic induction in the interior. When a specimen is placed in a magnetic field and is then cooled through the transition temperature for superconductivity, the magnetic flux originally present is ejected from the specimen. This is called the Meissner effect. B= 0 Fundamental Mechanism The superconducting state is an ordered state of the conduction electrons of the metal. Electron-Phonon Coupling Cooper Pair formed by two electrons k, and –k with opposite spins near the Fermi level, as coupled through phonons of the lattice The nature and origin of the ordering was explained by Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer.3 BCS Theory, 1957 J. Bardeen, L. N. Cooper, and J. R. Schrieffer, Phys. Rev. 106, 162 (1957); 108, 1175 (1957). The Discovery of Superconductivity • Early 90’s -- elemental SP metals like Hg, Pb, Al, Sn, Ga, etc. • Middle 90’s -- transitional metals, alloys, and compounds like Nb, NbN, Nb3Sn, etc. • Late 90’s -- perovskite oxides A-15 HTSC B1 A-15 compound A3B, with Tc = 15-23 K In the so called β–W structure With three perpendicular linear chains of A atoms on the cubic face, and B atoms are at body centered cubic site 1973 Nb3Ge, 23K ! Nb3Si ?? 3. The penetration depth and the coherence length emerge as natural consequence of the BCS theory. The London equation is obtained for magnetic fields that vary slowly in space. Thus, the central phenomenon in superconductivity, the Meissner effect, is obtained in a natural way. penetration depth (λ) ; coherence length (ξ) 4. The electron density of orbitals D(EF) of one spin at the Fermi level, and the electron –lattice interaction U. For UD(EF) << 1, the BCS theory predicts: 2∆ /kBTc = 3.52 Where is the Debye temperature and U is an attractive interaction (electron-phonon interaction). For dirty metal (a poor conductor) → ρ(300)↑, U↑, Tc↑ (a good SC) 5. Magnetic flux through a superconducting ring is quantized and the effective unit of charge is 2e rather than e. Evidence of pairing of electrons Low temperature Superconductors -- Mediated by Electron phonon coupling -- McMillian formula for Tc : electron phonon coupling constant * : Coulomb repulsion of electrons N(0) < I2 >/ 2 Are electrons or phonons more important? The Phonon Spectrum of the low Tc A-15 compound Nb3Al Soft Phonons Can we raise the Tc higher than 30K? Are we reaching the limitation of the BCS Theory ? Breakthrough in late 1986 By Bednorz and Muller Start the HTSC Era ! 30K 40K 90K 120K 80K 40K High Temperature Superconductor YBa2Cu3O7 (90K) CuO2 plane 2-D Cu-O chain 1-D Invention of Oxide Molecular Beam Epitaxy For HTSC Single Crystal Films. Will all non magnetic metal become SC at low T? (I) Destruction of Superconductivity by Magnetic Impurities It is important to eliminate from the specimen even trace quantities of foreign paramagnetic elements (II) Destruction of Superconductivity by Magnetic fields At the critical temperature the critical field is zero: Hc(Tc)=0 Meissner Effect It is an experimental fact that a bulk superconductor in a weak magnetic field will act as a perfect diamagnet, with zero magnetic induction in the interior. When a specimen is placed in a magnetic field, and is then cooled through the transition temperature for superconductivity, the magnetic flux originally present is ejected from the specimen. This is called the Meissner effect. B= 0 Meissner Effect M 1 B = Ba + 4휋M = 0 ; = － Ba 4휋 Eq.(1) Perfect Diamagnetism The magnetic properties cannot be accounted for by the assumption that a superconductor is a normal conductor with zero electrical resistivity. The result B = 0 cannot be derived from the characterization of a super- conductor as a medium of zero resistivity. From Ohm’s law, E = ρj, we see that if the resistivity ρ goes to zero while j is held finite, then E must be zero. By a Maxwell equation dB/dt is proportional to curl E, so that zero resistivity implies dB/dt = 0. This argument is not entirely transparent, but the result predicts that the flux through the metal cannot change on cooling through the transition. The Meissner effect contradicts this result and suggests that perfect diamagnetism is an essential property of the superconducting state. Type I superconductor Type II superconductor Perfect Diamagnetism Type II Superconductors 1. A good type I superconductor excludes a magnetic field until superconductivity is destroyed suddenly, and then the field penetrates completely. 2. (a) A good type II superconductor excludes the field completely up to a field Hc1.
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